WASATCH STOKE, CONDITIONS, OBSERVATIONS AND ASSORTED DRIVAL 17-18

[whyturn]

How about one of those chairs that go up stairs. What about an escalator. Ohhh maybe a tunnel to an elevator

[bigdude2468]

What about an electric monorail. Skier mover? Gaper mover?

Skier movers / Gaper movers are cheap, Monorail's are incredibly expensive., The Las Vegas monorail which travels 4.4 miles cost $654 million, $150million per mile. I am sure it had some challenges but I bet it was nothing like building it in LCC.

Bottom line IMO is that for probably less than 20 days per year building anything is a terrible waste of money with other transportation fixes more deserving. Yea the Canyon is busy in the summer but only on weekends so you can't justify an expenditure for that reason either.

Toll road does nothing except piss off visitors who may go elsewhere and more than likely does no help with congested days. Lets remember that this year with little snow in many parts of the country we are probably seeing an unusual influx of skiers in LCC. Hell, Alta is busy just from Snowbird instructors coming over with their clients. Without knowing the historical data on skier visits in LCC understanding what is going on is difficult. Are things really worse than they were 20 years ago? I am not sure, we all have short memories of how many times we chased the Conga line down the canyon. I know its been a while since we had an Interlodge with people spending the night.

[ryan14410]

courtesy of red pine trees

[peace_coast]

Greenhousing and warm temps roasting the snow in BCC today, mid elevation skiing was just abysmal. Maybe upper LCC was spared? Although I heard talk of a “rime event” up there which seemed possible given the dense clouds on the high peaks. At least the skiing was good yesterday. Anyways, thanks for attending winter 17/18 everyone, come back next year!

[Todds]

8 mile magic carpet in tunnels and snowsheds. Like the basshole, but much longer

They could build a zip line for coming down. Slow up but fast down.

[Skidog]

What about an electric monorail. Skier mover? Gaper mover?

Grade is far to much.

Sent from my XT1650 using TGR Forums mobile app

[zion zig zag]

What about an electric monorail.

Monorail! It's the only cromulent solution.

[skifishbum]

courtesy of red pine trees

i o u
for gettin the mrs. home and lettin sfotex topher and i score our powder hwy blessing
i should be at the l9 down town grainery compound mon and tues evenings home after 8
and back from bbi18 monday

[S_jenks]

I kinda figured that it we were talking about a gondola we were also talking about a toll. What does an 8 mile gondola cost? If the gondola was free how many tolls would it take to pay for it? How much are we willing to spend to fix a problem that happens about 20 days a year? I like the idea of a gondola that took 20 minutes from mouth to Albion. Not so crazy about one that takes an hour.

The point about the costs and actual number of congested days in the lcc are definitely worth bringing up.

Having to spend an hour in a gondi wouldn't exactly be ideal IMO. Driving to an area near the mouth of the LCC would be the best option. If the city wants to put in urban gondolas like La Paz or Caracas, that's more on them. I hadn't considered the possible side-effect of One Wasatch, and if a gondi like that got approval it'd be an optimal time for corporate to push for the connection.

The biggest issue that keeps popping up though is crowding, and the general impact on public lands in the lcc. No easy solution there. If the population growth projections are even remotely near the truth, then you guys simply need more ski hills down there.

I do like the point made about summer bike laps off such a lift system. Could be fucking sick.

[muted]

There's also the issue of solving the disgusting pollution in a narrow canyon as it gets oversaturated with cars in the coming years. I'm sure the road bikers would also love uncrowded roads, and climbers at the bottom could breath easier.

[jtran10]

Old news at this point after the bakeage we're now in, but S and SW high elevation skied great on 1/26, but lap 2 was already getting heavier than the first at around 1PM. Tons of wind transport to N and E facing slopes on the 26th as well.

[happytimefunbox]

First time in lcc.all season yeaterday. Grizzly lot was the biggest gong show Ive ever seen at 730 on a sunday and thats saying something. Busted out quick to get in front of the horde. WTF is up with the sign at TLP stating all ye who ski beyond here into twin lakes area have to have a soli pass. Right at the low spot in the pass. Dont believe Ive seen that before, but maybe ive never paid it mind any of the 100x Ive skied or skinned under it. TLP to Fants to EB. No pits dug plenty of handies. Snowpack is still super poo but maybe some healing facets? First lap in this hood this season. Rime crust fucked the early bird, should have hung with the crack of 10 crew and got it on the melt. Total skin failure fucked me worse and killed the plans of silver fork super tour and we beat it out bcc. Time to reglue some skins and count pennies for a targhee trip.

Sorry no pics my pic taker was on the fritz

[D-Roc]

This thread is in some serious need of some stoke! So here it is!

Did a lot of in-bounds and sidecountry around Alta Friday and Saturday that didn't disappoint, Catherines Pass and Sunset Peak were great, soft fresh turns all around.

Sunday ventured deep into BCC and found the goods! Definitely noticed the surface crust from the humidity on a majority of aspects. Ceiling was low, but keeping near the trees proved to be the right move with an absent crust in most places or barely existent in more exposed sections. Solid weekend!

[brutah]

Great last two days! Despite the rime event, yesterday at Alta had us ripping down groomers and the few times we went off piste, the snow was surprisingly good. Also caught the baldy opener, which is nice, took awhile to open (opened around noon) so only got it once but it was fun!




Mother superior called to us all day, so we decided to pay her a visit this morning. Also surprisingly good, dropped around 1030 and was treated to nice smooth cream cheese from top to bottom.

[tBatt]

No tours other than the walk to the top of Wildcat the night of the storm. It was a good week. Back to NY tomorrow. See y'all in the spring.

[UtahOutside]

First time in lcc.all season yeaterday. Grizzly lot was the biggest gong show Ive ever seen at 730 on a sunday and thats saying something. Busted out quick to get in front of the horde. WTF is up with the sign at TLP stating all ye who ski beyond here into twin lakes area have to have a soli pass. Right at the low spot in the pass. Dont believe Ive seen that before, but maybe ive never paid it mind any of the 100x Ive skied or skinned under it. TLP to Fants to EB. No pits dug plenty of handies. Snowpack is still super poo but maybe some healing facets? First lap in this hood this season. Rime crust fucked the early bird, should have hung with the crack of 10 crew and got it on the melt. Total skin failure fucked me worse and killed the plans of silver fork super tour and we beat it out bcc. Time to reglue some skins and count pennies for a targhee trip.

Sorry no pics my pic taker was on the fritz

My guess is that sign is there because Highway to Heaven down to the lake is now within Solitude's boundary? Or maybe it always was but the resort is now making it official. I got a Solitude pass for the first time in years and I've never seen that spot considered in-bounds before. But now it's an open gate and even on the trail map.

[#######]

My guess is that sign is there because Highway to Heaven down to the lake is now within Solitude's boundary? Or maybe it always was but the resort is now making it official. I got a Solitude pass for the first time in years and I've never seen that spot considered in-bounds before. But now it's an open gate and even on the trail map.

They've always controlled access to TLP, but likely DV wanted to claim more "experience" on the map. As far as I understand, Highway to Heaven is still considered "Controlled Access Backcountry," not in-bounds, but I've only been up there one day this season so this is speculation. In previous seasons, you could still exit when it was "regular closed" by checking out with patrol but you could not re-enter without getting a talking to. I recall hearing about an Soli instructor who lived at Alta and would skin over for work in the morning. He did so once on a control morning, was greeted at the gate, escorted down to to get a pink slip and a trespassing ticket from Peaches.

[boardtodeath]

Given that it's very clearly denoted as being inside the "resort boundary" I don't think solitude considers it backcountry.

[#######]

Given that it's very clearly denoted as being inside the "resort boundary" I don't think solitude considers it backcountry.

WTF, I guess it is. Whelp I guess it's time to GTFO-UT

"Highway to Heaven

The Highway to Heaven area is located within the Solitude Mountain Resort boundary and is often mistaken for backcountry. The resort boundary includes terrain from the Highway to Heaven access gate all the way to Twin Lakes Pass. Skiing in this area requires hiking to get back to the lift-served portion of the resort."

[telefreewasatch]

Given that it's very clearly denoted as being inside the "resort boundary" I don't think solitude considers it backcountry.

Two days ago, Alta was held up doing heli bombing inside the resort boundary in the East Castle by three "tourers" thinking that the East Castle was out of bounds. Spendy delay for Alta.
Directly the reason for the late Main Chute opening, Brutah.
One needs to know resort boundaries and whether given terrain is open or closed.
It doesn't matter whether there is a signage if entering from adjacent side country. Ignorance is not license.
One may not, for example, hike up from American Fork or wherever and ski the Pipeline at Snowbird if said run is closed...signed or not.
Fines and punishment differ between Town of Alta and the County.
Catherine's was difficult to get on line this year because it was the best / only game in town this early season and people didn't want to quit touring within our ski area boundary and allow us to mitigate, set up, and open.
The summer road is often closed anymore because of dawn patrol stopping us from testing for and mitigating avalanches on Patsy Marly.

Not saying it makes any sense or serves a purpose for the Twin Lake pass boundary posting, just saying there is a lot of ignorance and lack of respect for ski area boundaries in this crowded mecca of skiing.

[glademaster]

The Highway to Heaven terrain has been considered inbounds for the limited time I skied Solitude (since 2011). Just because you haven't been paying attention doesn't mean it's new.

[ncskier]

The Highway to Heaven terrain has been considered inbounds for the limited time I skied Solitude (since 2011). Just because you haven't been paying attention doesn't mean it's new.

I always thought of it as inbounds but rarely open as well. It makes sense since it basically comes all the way down to the Solitude Cross Country area below the Sol/Bright trail. I figured they had control of the area, but didn't want a bunch of dentist getting stranded back there. It require a hike out or a quick skier left to try and rejoin the sol/bright connector. I will say after skiing all these years though i dont remember that section being shown on earlier trail maps. Perhaps that is new.

[brutah]

Directly the reason for the late Main Chute opening, Brutah.
.

we were definitely wondering what was going on with those tracks coming down from about 2/3s up

BTW the back massager on the new supreme chair wasn't nearly as bumpy as y'all would make it seem

[telefreewasatch]

we were definitely wondering what was going on with those tracks coming down from about 2/3s up

BTW the back massager on the new supreme chair wasn't nearly as bumpy as y'all would make it seem

Pretty fun to make radio transmissions while going through the "bend".

[camlax]

Highway terrain is inbounds from the signs to the lake and has been for a long time. Reason for the signage is to help address recent backcountry users interfering with avalanche control.
New trail map this year to include highway terrain, backside of EGP (which is all inbounds although the wasatch backcoutnry skiing map says otherwise) and gates/bootpacks.

SSP is happy to answer any questions